http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/entertainment/15462285.htm

CONCERT REVIEW | Journey and Def Leppard
Journey, Leppard take big crowd on fun trip
Big, indestructible songs carry veteran rockers.
By TIMOTHY FINN
The Kansas City Star

Before the 2006 version of Journey emerged, the P.A. system played, not so 
coincidentally, a 35-year-old song by the Who: "Won't Get Fooled Again."

As the band took the stage, Roger Daltrey sang, "Meet the new boss, same as the 
old boss," which was fitting but inaccurate.

Journey's original "boss" was lead singer Steve Perry, who was replaced in the 
late 1990s by Steve Augeri. In July, Augeri went on sick leave with a bad 
throat.

So the singer on this idyllic late-summer night in Bonner Springs was another 
new boss: Jeff Scott Soto, who used to sing for ace guitar shredder Yngwie 
Malmsteen.

Soto wasn't exactly the same as either of the old bosses, but he sufficed, in a 
pinch. That's because Journey has big, durable songs and virtuosos to play them 
(especially Neil Schon).

So though he looked like a very young Chris Cornell and acted like a "Rock 
Star" contestant, Soto, with much help from his crackerjack band, took a huge 
crowd back to the era when Journey was the Google of prom-rock.

Gratuitously and enthusiastically, they played the hits: "Ask the Lonely," 
"Wheel in the Sky," "Lights" (which included long, loud and ecstatic 
"Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah" sing-along), "Open Arms" and "Lovin,' Touchin,' Squeezin' 
"

Drummer Deen Castronovo (ex-Bad English) sang lead on the blue-eyed soul ballad 
"Who's Cryin' Now," and he sounded more like the first boss than the third one 
did. Lesson learned? It's the songs, not the singer.

On this tour, Journey is the co-headliner with Def Leppard, a combination that 
doesn't wash with some listeners. That explains why a heavy smattering of 
people trickled out the gates between sets. Their loss.

Def Leppard is way more than the product of Mutt Lange's manic/hermetic muse. 
They, too, have big, sweet and indestructible songs that sound good more than 
20 years after they first became famous.

Those years have been kind to lead singer Joe Elliott, 47, who can still muster 
the muscle it takes to sing beefy pop-metal anthems for 100 minutes or so.

The set list comprised 15 songs, including two from the recent "Yeah!" 
collection of '60s and '70s covers: T. Rex's "20th Century Boy" and David 
Essex's "Rock On."

The songs that prompted the loudest responses, however, were their own 
blockbuster hits, which sounded pretty much the way they did when they poured 
out of FM radio in the early to mid-1980s: "Bringin' on the Heartbreak," 
"Foolin'," "Rocket" and "Photograph."

They saved the best for the two-song encore, "Love Bites," then "Pour Some 
Sugar on Me," which was like handing candy to a child. Even some of the ushers 
and local cops sang along to that one. As Pete Townshend once wrote, "Long Live 
Rock."
JOURNEY AND DEF LEPPARD

When: Wednesday, Sept. 6
Where: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
Audience: 15,000 (approx.)

DEF LEPPARD SET LIST
Let's Get Rocked; Let It Go; Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop); Bringin' on the 
Heartbreak; Foolin'; Hysteria; 20th Century Boy; Rock On; Rocket; Photograph; 
Armegeddon It; Animal; Rock of Ages. Encores: Love Bites; Pour Some Sugar on Me.
To reach Timothy Finn, call (816) 234-4781 or e-mail tfinn@kcstar.com.